The Yum Yum Factor

Earlier this month I was invited to the Toronto Flavour Your Live Blending Event hosted by Aria Restaurant, here in Toronto.  I LOVE extra virgin olive oil and was intrigued by the whole blending thing, I made my way down to the venue to check it out because I am not missing out on a chance to have some science fun. Taking home my personal blend The owner and blend master himself, Giovanni Zucchi, led us through a tasting, showing us the proper tasting technique (very similar to wine tasting where you take a sip, coat your mouth with the oil then noisily suck air in through pursed lips and then spit it out) and helped us to identify different flavours and how they reacted on the palate. If you think all olive oil is essentially the same, think again. Some show clear notes of pepper, some are kind of sweet, some are more acidic and others are fruity. Professional olive oil tasters sip from blue glasses so that they can focus on the taste and the texture and not get hu...

This recipe is one of my most requested in real life and I just realized I have never out it up on the blog. I did post in on my other blog,  NoReEats  , a few years ago but it's time to repost it here. I don't always do it with a spatchcocked chicken and it works the same with skin on, bone in chicken pieces. Today I am making it with a couple lbs of thighs, for instance but if you are using a whole bird, spatchcock it. The olive oil really gives he lemony sauce a silky texture that is worth the effort just on its own but thankfully the potatoes and the chicken are equally addictive.  One word about about the amount of water added- I have heard from many people that the amount needed varies due to different cooking vessels, oven temps etc so I would suggest starting with 1/2 cup the first time you make it. Just keep an eye on it and if it looks like it starts drying out , add more, 1/4 cup at a time to ensure that there is always a bit of water in the pan. Yo...

greek oregano in olive oil I know we are all sad that summer is coming to an end. After this weekend, The Kid starts high school, I start working on TIFF and Shack will most likely start working on whatever movie he is working on until after Christmas. We will settle into a routine and it will all be fine but today, as I stood in my garden with a pair of scissors and a big bowl, harvesting my herbs, I wanted to roll up into a ball and throw a massive tantrum. I don't want to stop wearing flip flops. I don't want to wear pants or cute jackets - okay, I am kind of ready for jeans and cute jackets but that's it. I love summer and this day signifies the impending end to hot summer nights drinking wine on the porch so I hate it. I HATE YOU TODAY.

I have had amazing luck with my herb garden this year so I kind of almost keep forgetting about it. In the past I grow everything in pots and they do okay but this year it's like a mutant steroid farm out there and I just can't use all the herbs fast enough. I am not worried about the 400 lbs of oregano, thyme and rosemary since they all dry really well but the basil either had to be consumed this weekend or it was going to go to pot so I had no choice but to make some pesto. I like a traditional pesto well enough but I like to change it up all the time. I love to add arugula, change the nuts and throw in something to give it a bit of heat. I almost never use pine nuts since I was attacked by them during the great PINE MOUTH EPISODE . I was part of a year long experiment where two friends and I documented our year of never repeating a recipe. I will tell you right now that even though I think of myself as a very good, adventurous home cook who thrives on variety, h...